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@ Tech ReportAlthough the Hynix chips on our engineering sample are rated for up to 4Gbps operation, on this board, they run at the same 900MHz base clock and 3600MT/s data rate as on the Radeon HD 4870. That ain't exactly shabby, though. All told, the R700 has an aggregate 512-bit path to memory that theoretically peaks at 230GB/s. To put that into perspective, its likely closest competitor, the GeForce GTX 280, has "only" 142GB/s of peak memory bandwidth. With that in mind, the big question about the 4870 X2 is: How does it perform? If you've answered "About like two Radeon HD 4870s in a CrossFire setup," you're on the right track. Compared to a dual-card config, this puppy has the potential benefit of a faster CrossFire interconnect between the GPUs and twice the effective memory size (single 4870s currently have 512MB), but it has the possible disadvantage of those GPUs having to share PCI Express bandwidth to the rest of the system via that PLX switch. Which, of course, is why we test these things....

@ AnandtechThe "Scalable design" block we already know about, that's RV770 - we reviewed it last month. The 150W TDP $300 part is the Radeon HD 4870, and the 110W $200 part is the Radeon HD 4850, the two cards that have caused NVIDIA quite a bit of pain already. The smaller $100 part has a name, and a release date, neither of which we can talk about at this point, but it's coming. Today however, is about the 250W, $500 multi-GPU solution - internally known as R700. Hot on the heels of the Radeon HD 4800 series launch, AMD shipped out ten R700 cards worldwide, attempting to capitalize on the success of the 4800 and showcase the strength of AMD's small-GPU strategy. We're assuming that AMD will call the R700 based cards the Radeon HD 4870 X2, and based on the chart above we're expecting them to retail above $500 (possibly $549?). Today's article is merely a preview as R700s won't be officially launched for at least another month, but AMD wanted to unveil a bit of what it's cooking.

@ HEXUSThere is nothing intrinsically clever about what ATI is doing here. Much in the vein of the also-twin-GPU Radeon HD 3870 X2, the new card positions two of its fastest-clocked single-GPUs - HD 4870s - on to one card. The difference here is that the HD 4870 X2's frequencies are exactly the same speed as the regular cards', running at 750MHz core and shaders and 3,600MHz for the smokin' GDDR5 memory. Each of the card's twin GPUs has access to its own 512MiB frame-buffer, of course, and both are connected via a PCIe 2.0 conduit that's mounted on to the PCB. The card-based numbers are extraordinary; 2.4TFLOPS of math calculation; 60Gtexels/s of bilinear filtering; and 230GiB/s of combined memory bandwidth - comfortably higher than any card that's come before. It would not be unreasonable to assume that performance will be very much akin to two discrete Radeon HD 4870 boards placed in two-way CrossFire.

@ PC PerspectiveNot too long ago the idea of a multi-GPU graphics card seemed taboo and brought about a lot of negative connotations with it. The GeForce 7950 GX2 was the first in the modern NVIDIA/ATI era and some board partners went in other multi-GPU directions until the Radeon HD 3870 X2 was released. We took the 3870 X2 as an answer to NVIDIA's high end cards because the company didn't have a single GPU that could compete with the competitions parts on its own; something of "we need answer" product. Today's preview of the HD 4870 X2 card from AMD proves that this time AMD was planning ahead. Our review of the RV770-based Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870 cards showed the new GPU architecture to be very potent indeed and NVIDIA is very scared of what the dual-GPU version, known as R700 previously, would do to its line of cards. Today we were allowed to post a short "preview" of the card's performance and I have to say you will likely be impressed. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 card is AMD's answer to NVIDIA's flagship GTX 280 card in terms of pricing and placement. Even though NVIDIA recently dropped a bomb and lowered the price of the GTX 280 from $649 to $499, the estimated pricing we have seen for AMD's card is in the ">$500" range and will likely fall on the lower end of that open-ended range now. Isn't competition a wonderful thing?

@ Legit ReviewsOnly four short months ago AMD launched the Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card and it was the flagship ATI Radeon product. ATI took two RV670 cores (Radeon HD 3870) and put them on the same PCB with the same amount of memory with the bridge chip already on the video card that enabled CrossFire automatically. The result was a graphics card that has two RV670 cores with 1GB of GDDR3 memory at a price point of $449. A Radeon HD 3870 X2 can now be found for just $289 and still packs some serious performance in a single graphics card. Now, the successor to the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 is here with twice the gaming performance of the last generation. AMD has once again taken two of the latest cores (RV770) and placed them on a single PCB. AMD kept the clock frequencies the same as the Radeon HD 4870 graphics card, so basically you have the power of a pair of those running CrossFire on a single PCB! Our review of the HIS Radeon HD 4870 showed it to be a performance winner at a very nice price point. AMD has once again created a price versus performance winner and they have produced a product that has NVIDIA worried as they don't have a card that competes at the same price point. The GeForce GTX 280 is the only card that stands a chance to the Radeon HD 4870 X2!

@ HardOCPSo what is the Radeon HD 4870 X2, or better known internally as R700? The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is AMD’s single video card solution for the high-end gaming enthusiast crowd. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is poised to compete directly with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 280 at a competitive price. Final pricing and specifications will be finalized at launch later this summer. The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is simply a video card with two Radeon HD 4870 GPUs on a single board. Therefore each GPU is operating in a “CrossFire” type of configuration, but hard wired on the board itself with a bridge chip. The new Radeon HD 4870 X2 uses a newer bridge chip that supports PCIe 2.0 and AMD has also improved the bandwidth between the GPUs. The bandwidth between both GPUs has been bumped from 6GB/sec, as found on the Radeon HD 3870 X2, to 20GB/sec on the Radeon HD 4870 X2. AMD has also beefed up the RAM on the Radeon HD 4870 X2; our samples have 1GB of GDDR5 accessible to each GPU (so 2GB total on the board.) Now, this memory is still not completely shared, the framebuffer is still duplicated and the memory is not combined. However, due to some inherent evolutionary upgrades present in GDDR5 memory modules there is actually a method in place to share some data between modules using that 20GB/sec bus. All of these improvements are evolutionary, through the memory, and the bridge chip, and should help improve performance and consistency with the Radeon HD 4870 X2 since it is a dual-GPU solution.

OCZ Rally2 32Gb USB Stick Review @ MadshrimpsWe are testing the largest USB drive in such a compact form today. Packing 32Gb this OCZ Rally2 promises high performance and high capacity. It comes in classy black with fancy activity LED and carrying strap.

ECS P43T Socket 775 Motherboard @ Pro-ClockersIf you take a budget chipset and mix it with a company like ECS you will get an incredible priced motherboard. In this case you will get the P43T-A2. The P43A is ECS’s first P43 motherboard on the market. Even with all its short comings compared to the P45 this board offers the everyday Joe with everything they would need to build a stable and very complete system.

Super Talent Pico-C 8GB Flash Drive @ TweaktownOver the next thirty days I will have only one thing on my mind; USB thumb drives. Thumb drives started out as small devices that were a little pricey, offered a small amount of storage and had very low transfer rates. Even with limited space and transfer rates that felt like we took a step back to 1.44 MB floppy disk days, people quickly adopted the technology based on their ease of use and convenience. TweakTown is working on gathering as many USB thumb drives as possible for a massive round-up review that will put products from every major manufacturer in the ring with one another. Some drives stand out for their high transfer rates, while others have high capacity. Other drives use a very small enclosures; about the size of your thumbnail.

Thermalright IFX-14 CPU and Back-side Heatpipe Cooler Review @ BigbruinThe Thermalright IFX-14 uses eight heatpipes to move heat from the base plate to the cooling fins, and these pipes are larger and more numerous than on many of the other big coolers on the market. Overall it is larger than any other cooler I have had a chance to use, including some titans like the Tuniq Tower 120 and Zalman CNPS 9700, which we will see compared side-by-side in this review.

Gigabyte EX38-DQ6 Motherboard Review @ Club OverclockerThe X38 chipset isn't the latest/greatest, but Gigabyte has invested in this chipset and even positioned it in their Performance and Energy Saving lineup. As we take a closer look at this board, you'll see that this board offers folks looking to upgrade a great platform to build upon. By utilizing DDR2, Gigabyte is keeping your cost lower by letting you recycle your existing RAM and avoid the inflated cost of DDR3.

OCZ Vendetta 2 Heatpipe Cooler @ Pro-ClockersNow we have at our doorstep the Vendetta Dos ok the Vendetta 2. This new and improved Vendetta is bigger and sports a larger cooling fan. Naturally, we would think that a larger version of a similar cooler would deem better temps and higher overclocks. Well we are here today to see if the theory correct.

MSI Wind U100 @ InsideHWWhile exterior has a lot of similarities, platforms on which are based Wind and Eee represent two different worlds. Eee uses old technology which became cheap enough over time. On the other hand, Wind has newest Intel processor, made especially for these types of devices. That CPU is Atom N270. Beside small dimensions (which enables even smaller dimensions of device), Atom characterizes extremely small power consumption. Thanks to that, it is possible to use passive cooling solution which results in much bigger autonomy. Atom is manufactured in 45nm process with total surface area that is only 22mm2. Under full load dissipations amounts incredible 2.5W and if it’s in idle, dissipations are less than 1W. Atom N270 works at 1.6GHz which makes it able to respond on every task that can be expected from one ultra portable computer. As their main purpose is attached to Internet, a new name is already born - Netbook . If we look at their outstanding performances, we shouldn’t be surprised with great demands for Atom processors on the market. This is the main reason why shortage appeared in first place. We should expect that this sort of problem will exist in next few months.

Cooler Master Real Power Pro 550W Power Supply @ TechwareLabsThe box which the Cooler Master 550W “Real Power” Power supply comes in is the Cooler Master standard white, black and trimmer in purple and stamped with the products features on the sides and back of the box. Inside, the power supply secured tightly in foam to prevent shifting and damage during shipping. The front of the box is stamped with a few important facts such as a 5 year warranty which is very important to those PC users out there who want a power supply that backed by a warranty which will last the life most the components, essentially giving the user the most time for their hard earned dollar. The box is also stamped with the icon 80 Plus, which means the 550W PSU is an 80+% efficient PSU under normal loads. This efficiency is note-worthy to everyone concern about conserving energy and having the least amount of heat being produced due to load demands of the rig.

Silicon Power 64GB SATA Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews Silicon Power has big dreams, but this a cruel world we live in and being the new name in competitive North American computer industry usually doesn't help dreams come true. Making matters more difficult - even beyond the obvious start-up hurdles - is the latest product focus of Silicon Power: Solid State Drive (SSD) technology. But all of this isn't to say that I don't think they can do it, because there have been many a new name made by fresh companies introducing product with a dramatic improvement over the old. But will Silicon Power enjoy this luxury? Benchmark Reviews tests the Silicon Power 64GB SATA SSD model SP064GBSSD25SV10 against nearly a dozen other Solid State Drives to see how well their SSD performs.

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 Video Card Review @ FuturelooksThe GeForce GTX 280, and it’s little brother the GeForce GTX 260, were released in June of this year. This is just three months after the release of the GeForce 9 series. Now it may be based off the same unified architecture, but on paper, the new GTX 200 series of chips have a definite performance boost over the previously released chips. For starters this new GPU contains 1.4 billion transistors and is made on a 65nm fabrication process. According to some sources this makes the GTX 2xx series a chip with the largest die area ever fabricated for a GPU. The GTX 280 has 240 shaders (stream processors), and comes with 1GB of GDDR3 VRAM on a 512 bit bus. The chip is said to put out approximately 933 GFLOPS of floating point power.

Thermaltake Armor+ MX Midtower ATX Computer Case @ Legit ReviewsThermaltake has tried to cram as many features from the larger “super tower” Armor case into this standard size mid tower, and did a good job of it. You have all the classic looks, the build quality, and you can still fit everything into the case. With shrinking space comes the 'snug factor'. The Thermaltake Armor+ case has close quarters, but you can still get most full length video card in this case.

Super Talent MasterDrive MX 60GB SSD @ TweaktownThis last month has been filled with press releases from companies promising high performance solid state technology at prices that are up to 30% less than any of the drives we have previously tested. The cost reduction has to do with memory manufacturers starting to ramp up production of the memory chips used, and according to DRAMeXchange, prices are down 26% for many MLC memory sizes popular for use in SSDs. Super Talent is the first to send us their latest MLC Solid State Drive that takes advantage of the new lower contract prices on memory. The MasterDrive MX Line is available in sizes ranging from 8 to 120GB. Our sample 60GB model is available at Newegg right now for less than 400 U.S. Dollars. Let’s have a look and see how these new low cost Solid State Drives perform against our trusty Western Digital Raptor 150GB and Samsung’s SATA II SLC drive.

VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 512MB CrossFireX Review @ Club OverclockerI always love it when new items come into the market. Nothing is better than new CPU's or new Video cards to get people excited about computers. It's especially exciting when the two largest gaming video card manufacturers release new products within a week of each other. The last few weeks have been very exciting ones with all sorts of video card reviews popping up all over the net. Forums have been flooded with new ammunition for the long debate; which video card is better? I don't think it's possible to answer that question and I'm not going to try. I'm just going to add more benchmark fuel to the fire and let you make up your own mind.

Aeneon XTune DDR2-1142 2GB Memory Kit @ TweaktownXTune is Aeneon's brand of enthusiast level memory modules. While our first encounter with the XTune was less than fantastic, we don’t reject companies from coming back with new products to try out. Today we have the newest addition, being a DDR2 package. That’s right; DDR2 still lives and it’s definitely not going anywhere soon. The kit sent to us is the DDR2-1142MHz overclocked pack with 2x1GB modules for a total of 2GB in Dual Channel; ideal for both Intel and AMD. These modules aren’t rated for Phenom’s 1066MHz memory controller, but that shouldn’t stop it from working with a bit of a boost in memory voltage.

AMD Phenom 9950 X4 Quad-Core Processor @ TechwareLabsAMD recently released several low power processors to its Quad core family, while simultaneously pushing the ceiling up a bit on their high end line with the 9950. We take the new 9950 for a test drive and put it through its paces using several different software titles. We find out if the new flagship processor packs a bigger punch.

Sigma SP-700 700 Watt ATX Power Supply Review @ Club OverclockerIt seems like sooner or later everyone is going to need a new power supply. Whether you are upgrading from a dreaded OEM unit or plotting the next big build, starting with a stable foundation is critical. Today we will be looking at the latest from Sigma; the SP-700. In a sea of four digit monsters and units costing much more, is the SP-700 a dark horse contender for your next build?

OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator @ Tech ReportThe NIA makes those things possible thanks to a headband with three diamond-shaped sensors positioned at the front. According to OCZ Technology Development Director Michael Schuette's article on the subject, the sensors are made of a plastic injected with highly conductive nanofibers, which the NIA hardware uses to read electrical potentials from the user's forehead. OCZ built the remainder of the headband out of soft rubber, with a lanyard at the back to allow for adjustment. A cable runs down the left side of the headband and plugs into the black NIA box, which includes two completely separate circuits: one hooked up to the headband and the other hooked up to the host PC's USB port. The two circuits only talk to each other through an optical transceiver, ensuring that users won't get electrical shocks if things go awry. On the user's PC, the NIA control software converts electrical potentials from the headband into usable input. Schuette explains that the software separates the different frequencies in these potentials using proprietary algorithms not unlike fast Fourier transforms. Running these algorithms on a continuously streaming flow of data can apparently hog some "serious CPU cycles," although we didn't see the control application eat up much more than 10-15% of our test rig's Core 2 Duo E6400.

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 @ InsideHWWe have tested Sapphire Radeon HD 4850, model that represents first commercial available GPU from new generation of Radeon HD 4000 and is marked as R770 GPU. We are talking about cheap but very fast card which is part of new ATI’s policy. ATI decided to leave multiGPU systems for top class but user can buy a card to play with for some time that is not overpriced and later on you have a possibility of purchasing another one or even more, depending from your affinity and upgrade your system easily. Trump card that ATI used is 55nm technology process that actually results in GPU surface area from 260mm2, half less then surface of GTX280 is. Nevertheless, ATI succeed to pack 956 million transistors on such a small space. Number of Stream Processors is also increased regarding previous generation, but– number of SP is 800! Yes, you read exactly, eight hundred, but every fifth works with all functions and there are actually 160 of them. Of course, number of texture units was also increased considerably and there are 40 of them. ROPs are still present in same amount as before -16. Improvements were done on every step and true example for that are SIMD cores consisted of 80SPs with 16KB cache memory, L1 cache and four dedicated texture units. Of course, 55nm technology process means less consumption and in case of Radeon HD 4850 it sums around 110W, which is a huge step forward. R770 cards has support as for GDDR3 as for GDDR5 with 256bit memory bus bandwidth.

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition Video Card @ BmRNVIDIA has recently launched the GeForce GTX 280 and GTX 260 video cards. Both the GTX 280 and GTX 260 products position themselves at the most elite segment of the GeForce product line, so just imagine how much more powerful the GeForce GTX 280 could become after ZOTAC give it their special AMP! Edition treatment. The recent Radeon HD 4870 launch may have shown how close ATI/AMD can get to NVIDIA's bar of performance, but the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 280 AMP! Edition graphics card has just raised that bar much higher. Benchmark Reviews tests the ZOTAC ZT-X28E3LA-FCP against the GeForce 9800 GX2 and 9800 GTX, as well as the new Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFireX configuration.

Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M Geforce 9600GT Videocard @ PCSTATSThe Asus EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M is a Geforce 9600GT based PCI Express graphics card. It ships pre-overclocked from the factory for roughly a 10% gaming edge, and packs in a typical 512MB of GDDR3 memory. It's nVidia Geforce 9600GT GPU runs at 720MHz (up from the stock of 700MHz), while memory and shader clock speeds sit at 2000MHz and 1800MHz respectively. Asus retail the EN9600GT Top/HTDI/512M videocard for roughly $50 less than a Radeon HD4850 card will set you back, and comes with a pretty basic accessory bundle.

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Video Card @ Benchmark ReviewsSapphire has always offered the most influential ATI graphics products available, and the new Radeon HD 4850 is no different. Although it still uses GDDR3 clocked at 993 (1986 MHz DDR), unlike the 4870 version that is decked out with GDDR5, the Sapphire 100242L model offers 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) on its 625 MHz 800-core RV770 GPU. Benchmark Reviews tests the Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 graphics card against the closest competition, and even compare CrossFireX performance in this performance review.

Coolink GFXChilla VGA Cooler @ Legit ReviewsThe test results show that the Coolink GPUChilla dropped the idle temperatures by 49% and the load temperatures by an impressive 45%! Our only complaint on the Radeon HD 4850 was how hot the card ran and the Coolink GPUChilla took cooling to the next level. The 49% reduction at idle put the Radeon HD 4850 at 33C, which is better than we expected. The factory heat sink works, but it obviously leaves room for improvement.

AMD Phenom X4 9950 and 9350e Quad-Core Processor Review @ Legit ReviewsAMD was busy last month with the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards, which have both proved themselves to be price versus performance winners. This month, AMD is starting off by launching three new processors: the Phenom X4 9950 processor and the energy-efficient Phenom X4 9350e and 9150e processors. Read on to see how these new processors do! AMD has launched three more Phenom processors that are sure to get people talking. The energy-efficient 65W Phenom processors are the ones to keep an eye on. They are priced under $200 and will be a nice upgrade path for those looking to drop in a processor and move on.

ZOTAC NVIDIA 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard @ TweaktownThe 790i is the first chipset from NVIDIA to be re-designed totally. 790i has its own PCI Express 2.0 controller built into the chipset along with a new memory controller for DDR3 memory with support for EPP 2.0, and today we have ZOTAC’s high performance motherboard to play with. ZOTAC has definitely made its mark with us. While our first board we received from them based on the GeForce 8300 chipset failed to impress, the 790i Ultra SLI board really got us going.

Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n Edition Review @ Club OverclockerAsus is generally among the top choices for enthusiasts. They have built a reputation of solid, stable motherboards. Over the past several years they have also added speed to their reputation. Now some of the best overclocking boards belong to Asus. With a reputation of stable, fast and overclocker friendly motherboards, it's easy to get excited when an Asus motherboard arrives. This time we are digging into the Asus P5E3 Premium WiFI-AP @n Edition. It's a long name, but this bad boy is loaded down with bells and whistles so let's dig in and see what it can do. Come and check it out at Club Overclocker!

ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n Edition Motherboard @ Legit ReviewsThe ASUS P5E3 Premium/WiFi-AP @n is an Intel X48 chipset-based motherboard that combines performance with great energy efficiency. It supports DDR3 2000MHz dual-channel memory architecture and Dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes for ATI CrossFire graphics performance card users. If you are looking for a motherboard that features cutting edge features and uses the tried and true Intel X48 Express chipset then look no further. If you want a solid motherboard that performs great, has great overclocking ability and that comes from a very reputable manufacturer, and if price is no issue at all, then this is a board that you should take a close look at. ASUS has done it again in the P5E3 Premium motherboard!

XFX GeForce GTX 260 XXX Edition @ TweaktownI’m looking forward to seeing how the GTX 260 fairs in this extremely competitive graphics card market, and hopefully its cheaper price tag can win us over. The graphics card market has never been this hot before, and while AMD are fighting the good fight to take the market share crown back, NVIDIA is battling them off with sticks at the moment. While looking at how the GTX 260 XXX goes against the GTX 280 XXX, we will see how it also compares against the 9800 GTX and 9800 GX2 to see if the price drop affects performance much.

Asrock P45R2000-WiFi 775 Motherboard @ Pro-ClockersWe have yet again received another mainboard from Asrock that is based on this Intel and improved chipset. The P45R2000-WiFi has the look and feel of the X48TwinTurbo we reviewed just a week or so ago. Now the P45R2000 has all options stated above and plus some but what will be an added feature of this board is its price. It should be price well under the $240 asking price of the ASUS P5Q at about $150-$160. Price is one thing but is it worth it in the end? Read on as well put this board on the bench.

Thecus N3200 RAID 5 Three Bay NAS Network Attached System Review @ TweaknewsThecus succeeded in making a home NAS that is simple to set up without sacrificing features and functionality. Only a basic knowledge of networking is required to have dedicated storage up and running in a matter of minutes. If you can set up a home router, you can configure this NAS and be able to access files from any PC in the home. For data redundancy, the option to set up RAID 1 or 5 is available and a backup utility is included on the software CD. Additionally, the internal fan is nearly silent and the unit doesn't take up much room, so it can easily integrate with other home networking equipment.

Areca ARC-1231ML SATA RAID 6 Controller @ TweaktownSo, where do you turn to when you run out of ports on the motherboard? - To a discrete solution of course! There are many companies out there providing a huge array of cards. Areca is a new company to TweakTown; we haven’t been graced with any products from them until now, and as always we are more than happy to oblige them with some testing of their products. Today they have sent one of their biggest cards for SATA-II expansion. In our labs we have been sent the ARC-1231ML 12 channel SATA-II Controller. Let’s get stuck right into it.

In-Win B2 Stealth Bomber ATX Case Review @ MadshrimpsThe In-Win B2 is without a doubt a gamer orientated ATX chassis. Designed with aspects and features to resemble a B2 stealth bomber plane this military looking case is apt to turn some heads. It has a fully functional automatic hatch at the front and comes with four case fans to keep your hardware inside running cool.

The Radeon HD 4870 & 4850: AMD Wins at $199 and $299 @ AnandtechPriced at $299 the Radeon HD 4870 is clocked 20% higher and has 81% more memory bandwidth than the Radeon HD 4850. The GPU clock speed improvement is simply due to better cooling as the 4870 ships with a two-slot cooler. The memory bandwidth improvement is due to the Radeon HD 4870 using GDDR5 memory instead of GDDR3 used on the 4850 and 3870; the result is a data rate equal to 4x the memory clock speed or 3.6Gbps. The Radeon HD 4870 and 4850 both use a 256-bit memory bus like the 3870 before it (as well as NVIDIA's competing GeForce 9800 GTX), but total memory bandwidth on the 4870 ends up being 115.2GB/s thanks to the use of GDDR5. Note that this is more memory bandwidth than the GeForce GTX 260 which has a much wider 448-bit memory bus, but uses GDDR3 devices.

HIS Radeon HD 4870 CrossFire Video Card Review @ Legit ReviewsThe Radeon HD 4870 is the first retail graphics card to use GDDR5 memory and the 512MB of memory uses Qimonda branded ICs. GDDR5 introduces features and functions that go beyond previous GDDR standards and enables GDDR5 to operate at data rates up to 6 Gbps, three times the performance of todays high speed GDDR3. The memory ICs feature adaptive power management, error compensation, adaptive interface timings and date eye optimization. The ICs being used are part number IDGV1G-05A1F1C-40X, which are entry level GDDR5 chips and are rated for just 4 Gbps. ATI has them clocked at just 3.6 Gbps, so these should have some overclocking head room left in them.

ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: RV770 Has Arrived @ Hot HardwareLast week, due to some unexpected circumstances, we were able to post a sneak peek of the RV770 GPU and ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card. As our limited testing showed, the Radeon HD 4850 was quite promising for a $199 graphics card. But we weren't able to tell the complete story. While the initial benchmarks definitely looked good, there was a lot more to talk about in regard to the Radeon HD 4850 and the RV770 GPU at the heart of the card. Today we can finally spill the rest of the beans. You see, AMD didn't plan to officially announce just one new Radeon HD 4800 series card this week, but two, with a dash of information about a third thrown in for good measure. Today marks the official arrival of not only the Radeon HD 4850, but the higher-end Radeon HD 4870 as well. As we've already explained, one card - the Radeon HD 4850 - is targeted at the sub-$200 price point. The other, however, is a $299 screamer that makes use of some cutting edge technology, like GDDR5 memory.

Palit Radeon HD4870 512MB Video Card @ Hardware CanucksIt has been a hard two years for ATI and we know that many people out there have been counting down the days until the boys in red returned to competitiveness. Well ladies and gents, the wait is over because the HD4870 has shown us that ATI has come out with all guns blazing. While the HD3870 and HD3850 were popular cards which were able to compete on a number of fronts with their Nvidia counterparts, we are quickly coming to realize that they were nothing more than technology demonstrators for the 55nm manufacturing process. This process has now blossomed into full maturity with the R770-series cards which seem set to take the graphics card world by storm.

ATI's 4800 Series: HD 4850, 4870 @ Ars TechnicaIn a word, the 4800 series is excellent. The HD 4850 doesn't quite beat the HD 3870X2 overall, but it comes darn close. The HD 4870, meanwhile, does make a clean sweep of the 3870X2, and it does so for less money. The NVIDIA 9800 GTX ends up soundly thrashed by both cards. At the higher end, NVIDIA's 9800 GX2 and GTX 280 maintain performance superiority over the ATI HD 4800 series, but their respective price points of $499 and $649 put them far above even the 4870's comparatively modest $299 list price. The two new cards perform well across the board relative to earlier ATI products. If you're looking for specific benchmarks where ATI does particularly well, I'd recommend checking the Call of Duty 4 results, while both Crysis and World in Conflict are games where previous HD 3800 cards struggled compared to their NVIDIA counterparts.

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 in Crossfire @ TweaktownGiven the level of excitement the HD 4850 left, not only with us, but also gamers and enthusiasts all over the world, the HD 4870 quickly became extremely anticipated by people. Will it beat the GTX 260? - How much faster than the HD 4850 is it? - Can it out-perform the GTX 280? - How does Crossfire scale? These are all questions that we want answered, and today we intend to have answers for all of them. On paper the HD 4870 looks to be the right card for a lot of people. On the internet, looking at early prices it also seems to be the right one. Ultimately though, what it’s going to come down to is performance.

AMD's Radeon HD 4870 graphics processor @ Tech ReportCards like this one from VisionTek should start selling online today at around $299. That's another hundred bucks over the 4850, but then you're getting a lot more card. The 4870's core clock is 750MHz, and even more importantly, it's paired up with 512MB of GDDR5 memory. The base clock on that memory is 900MHz, but it transfers data at a rate of 3600MT/s, which means the 4870's peak memory bandwidth is nearly twice that of the 4850.

AMD Radeon HD 4870 and HD 4850 Review - Mid-range GPU mix up @ PC PerspectiveIf you were confused into believing that AMD's next-generation architecture, the RV770 design, was supposed to be out MUCH earlier than today, you wouldn't be alone. We started posting about the RV770 design as far back as late December and the stream of news and rumors about the number of shader processors, memory technologies and more. Last week we were "gifted" with the early release of the Radeon HD 4850 512MB- one of the products based on the RV770 design, but today we'll walk you through not only both the HD 4850 and HD 4870 graphics boards but also the RV770 architecture itself. AMD is releasing two new graphics cards with the RV770 today: the Radeon HD 4870 and the Radeon HD 4850; the 4870 will sell for an MSRP of $299 while the 4850 will go for $199.

AMD (ATI) Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: bloodying NVIDIA's profits @ HEXUSATI has managed to fit an incredible amount of shading and texturing power into the new HD 48xx-series - more than we expected. That shading is helped along by a commensurate increase in texturing, and the use of GDDR5, on the Radeon HD 4870, means it has gobs of bandwidth, too. If this was a specification-to-specification fight, it would be over before it started. ATI's new GPUs' visceral output cannot be matched by NVIDIA's mid-range, based on 18-month-old technology. There's one thing in having a huge, huge engine, and another in being able to use it well. Historically, NVIDIA has enjoyed a huge advantage in ensuring that games developers optimise code for its architecture, through a better-supported dev-rel team. The upshot has been that any obvious shortfalls in on-paper specs have mitigated by tight, efficient code, much to the chagrin of ATI's engineers.m Whatever the current state of play, it's difficult to argue against the brute power of the new mid-range/enthusiast GPUs from ATI; they're comfortably ahead of anything else at the quoted price-points of £125 and £175 for the Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870, respectively.

Samsung SC-HMX10A High Definition HD Solid State Memory Camcorder Review @ TweaknewsSamsung's first foray into solid state HD recording can be easily summed up to be a success. Everything works perfectly, controls are easy to use and video/photo quality are excellent for an all-in-one product. With the rise in HDTV sales, HD camcorders are going to get more and more popular. Consider an HD camcorder as future-proofing your purchase so it will be compatible with the new TV standard for several years.

Tuniq Ensemble 1200w Power Supply Review @ Club OverclockerWith the focus on a Green PC and sky rocketing energy bills, High Efficiency power supplies are gaining momentum. Manufacturers are highlighting their units abilities to maintain high efficiency even under full load. Tuniq claims the Ensemble will achieve a minimum of 82.3% at full load with an average efficiency of 86%.

XFX GeForce GTX 280 XXX Edition @ TweaktownIf the GTX 280 AMP! Edition from ZOTAC wasn’t enough MHz for you, we might have the card for you today. XFX is back once again, carrying with it some pretty mean speeds on the new GTX 280 XXX Edition. While the XFX GTX 280 does come in 30MHz lower on the core compared to the ZOTAC offering, it does carry with it a significantly higher 200MHz DDR memory clock. Let’s find out if that makes up for the reduced core speed.

Razer Lachesis High Precision 3G Gaming Mouse @ FuturelooksAs the “Bringer of Silent Death”, the Razer Lachesis is named after venomous pit vipers found in Central and South America which can strike its victim multiple times at lethal speeds. Now I don’t call myself an avid gamer but I do like to partake in the more recent windows based gaming titles and it will be interesting to see how a true gaming mouse outperforms a regular ol’ optical mouse that I’ve been clutching. Does this precision gaming mouse live up to its namesake?

Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB Review @ Club OverclockerWhat a crazy week this has been. First, with the unintentional early release of the 4850, followed by the nVidia bombshell announcement of the 9800GTX+, there has not been a dull moment. All this chaos in the market has precipitated a serious price war in which all of us win. Even with the MSRP of $199, we are already seeing the 4850 sell for as low as $160. 8800GTX like performance for under two bills? Yes, please! All on a design that sips power and uses a single slot cooler? Where do I sign up?

ASUS Lion Square CPU Cooler Review @ Legit ReviewsToday we look at the newest CPU cooler from ASUS, the Lion Square. Named for the Sword Lion legend and designed with quad core CPU’s in mind this seems to be a slick heat sink. The bold and unique design features eight heat pipes that originate from the copper base all the way to the top where they are covered by neat looking nuts. The very top of the cooler has a cover that mimics the shape of a shield. It looks great, but how will it perform? Read on to find out!

NZXT Tempest Midtower ATX Case @ FuturelooksNZXT has come a long way in a short time. They started simply, with a flashy entrance into the case market in the form of the Guardian. Now they have a full stable of wonderfully designed cases, and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Their latest release, the Tempest, has garnered a lot of attention. We’re going to take a look at it, and see how well it stacks up in the abundant performance case market.

Hiper Osiris HTC-1K514-A1 Mid-Tower Computer Case @ Benchmark ReviewsHigh Performance Group (Hiper) is best known for their self-designed power supply units, yet they have recently begun to compete in the computer chassis market. Their first foray into the arena was with the rock-solid Hiper Anubis Mid Tower ATX Case HTC-1K614, which could withstand brutal punishment while looking very stylish. Mere months later, Hiper has returned with the Osiris Mid-Tower 6063-T5 Alloy Computer Case HTC-1K514-A1. Named after the ancient Egyptian god of the overworld, this case comes equipped with many of the award-winning features found in the Anubis and adds a total of 20 new refinements.

MSI P7N SLI Platinum (750i) Motherboard Review @ MadshrimpsIn this review we take a look at an affordable NVIDIA 750i based motherboard from MSI. It allows you to build an SLI gaming system powered by an Intel S775 CPU. Is this product good enough for the enthusiast? We compare its performance to an X38 based S775 board and also let you explore the BIOS of the MSI with our virtual tour.

Four Radeon HD 4850s In CrossfireX @ TweaktownThe guys down at IBuyPower Australia can’t get rid of me these days. I’m surprised they haven’t started asking me to pay rent. The other day the ASUS P5E64 WS Evolution board arrived, and this thing just absolutely won me over as far as looks and features went. However, the feature that we really care about today is the fact it has four PCI Express x16 slots. While ASUS use a x16/x16/x4/x4 configuration, it’s really one of the best on the market. So, with four HD 4850s in hand and hopefully a driver that was going to work, it was time to take four of these single slot bad boys to town.

Overclocking The NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Video Card @ Legit ReviewsThe highest settings we could get stable with the GeForce 9800 GTX+ were 855MHz on the core and 2200MHz on the shaders. That is 55MHz higher on the core and 175MHz higher on the shaders than what we could reach on the old 65nm G92 core. For those that like percentages the overclock is roughly 6% higher on the core and 8% more on the shaders, which is significant, but nothing over the top. Usually with die shrinks overclocking performance stays close to the same, even more so when no major architecture changes are made. It should be noted that the memory overclocked better on the GeForce 9800 GTX+ and it seems NVIDIA has moved over to Hynix branded GDDR3 memory ICs. The GDDR3 memory IC's on the new GeForce 9800 GTX+ card were Hynix H5RS5223CFR-N2C, which are rated 1200 MHz (GDDR3-2400) 0.8NS with 1.5V. These are the same memory IC's that were found on the GeForce GTX 280 cards we reviewed last week.

ASUS Eee PC 1000H @ TweaktownEee PC 1000H is Taiwan’s version of the latest Eee PC launched by ASUS late in 2007. Since then, like a wildfire the Eee PC revolution has burned asunder all competition before it. There is literally no other genré of PC like it. However, that being said, I have to say the look and feel of the model we are looking at today is a lot different from the first Eee PC we originally exposed in all her innocence a while ago. Today we are going to strip down a juicier, more mature model; something seductively more endowed, and covered in glossy black. No more innocent “clad in white” teeny tid-bit viewing; this is an all-black leather mistress with her whips and chains, and it took a great deal of coaxing to calm her out of her plastic glossy black briefs.

Super Talent 8 GB USB Pico Drive @ TechwareLabsGone are the days of "Super Size Me" as the world has taken a 180 degree turn and everywhere you look ultra small is in. Super Talent has extended this concept to its USB storage line and presents us with its PICO drive. Weighing in at 8GB its a lot of storage in a little itty bitty space. Does this contended have performance that is bigger than its size?

Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 ECO 80 ATX Case Review @ MadshrimpsArctic Cooling, well known for their low noise CPU and VGA coolers, has developed their own Silentium ATX case series some time ago. We take a look at the latest incarnation, the T2 ECO 80 which comes with a high efficiency 550W PSU, HDD noise absorption system and decoupled low noise case fans. Can this case live up to their high standards?